Page 77 of What a Wolf Wants
“Kroner would have ended Renault’s life if he didn’t do what he had tasked him to do,” Ethan said.
“Right,” Charlene said.
“Hey, Noah, I need to get hold of Tori and see if she can look into Renault’s financial situation. We’ll talk to you when we get up in the morning,” Ethan said.
“All right. Talk to you later.”
Then they ended the conversation.
Ethan called Tori, who promised to have her resource guy look into Renault’s financial records. Then he answered a call from Leidolf, who promised to send some wolves to watch over Charlene’s house. Both Tori and Leidolf wanted Charlene at the pack’s ranch, but Ethan assured them Charlene wanted to stay in Oyster Bay for now.
Charlene snuggled with Ethan. “Why do you always call Tori so late? Why not Adam?”
Ethan smiled and kissed Charlene on the forehead. “She’s much easier to talk to about a case when it’s late now that Adam and Sierra are mated. I’ve been known to interrupt them at inappropriate times.”
They finally fell asleep, but at seven, Ethan got a text and he groaned. Then he checked the text. “It’s the guys. They’re in the lobby.”
Charlene laughed. “I guess we need to get up and dress so we can meet with them.”
“Or you could wait for me in bed.”
“No way. I want to go with the guys to the house and then we can leave them there.”
“They need to go there on their own so they can set up surveillance. If we go with them—”
“Right. If Kroner or his men are watching the place, he will see us return and he could follow us back to the hotel.” She let out her breath. “All right. But I’m hungry and want breakfast. So let’s eat.”
He smiled. “Okay, that works for me.”
They both dressed and Ethan called Noah. “We’ve got reinforcements from the pack. We’re meeting them in the lobby. If you want to join us, we can have breakfast together. They’re going to house-sit for the time being.”
“Oh, great. Be right down.”
They met up with their reinforcements, Ethan introducing them to Charlene and Noah since neither of them knew any of the guys. “Brad Redding, a former Navy SEAL, is asubleader and works at the ranch, mostly in security, but as a subleader, he does a variety of other missions also. Josh Wilding, a retired homicide detective, has worked with me on missions before while he was at the bureau. Maverick Wilding, Josh’s twin brother, owns and operates the reindeer ranch. And twin brothers Quincy and Pierce Nelson are both in security details at the pack leaders’ ranch.”
“Hey, good being here,” Brad said, giving Ethan a hug and then Charlene. He shook Noah’s hand.
“Welcome to the pack,” Josh said to Noah and Charlene.
“I’m so glad to be with the pack,” Charlene said.
“And congratulations are in order,” Maverick said.
The dark-haired twins, Quincy and Pierce, total charmers with any new she-wolves they met, stepped up to welcome them to the pack and congratulate the new couple. “Notice how Ethan never once brought Charlene to the ranch so she could see any of the other bachelor wolves out there?” Quincy said. “All just as fit, strapping, heroic, and eager to make your acquaintance.”
Pierce smiled. “Yeah. If she had known about us, things might have been different.”
Ethan laughed. “In your dreams.”
Charlene smiled. “Thanks to all of you. While you’re at Ethan and my house, feel free to eat or drink anything we have there and make yourself at home.”
“Thanks. We’ll take shifts watching the place and let you know if we have any contact with anyone,” Brad said.
“Great.” Ethan was thankful Leidolf had sent so many men to help them. He suspected Leidolf was only going tosend Quincy or Pierce, because he said he was sending four men not five, but Ethan swore the Nelson brothers came as a set. Then again, maybe it was Maverick who insisted on coming with his twin brother, Josh.
“Leidolf told us the whole situation. If anyone is armed and enters the house, we’ll try to use nonlethal force,” Josh said.
“But if we have to, we won’t hesitate to use lethal force,” Brad said.
